Is good advertising doomed? Looks that way

With apologies to Jack Nicholson and Colonel Jessup — Good creative? You can’t handle good creative!

Well, at least many of us can’t. So don’t whine next year when the quality of Super Bowl advertising declines — again. As a society, we simply can’t handle humor any more. And it saddens me.

I spoke to a friend in the ad biz yesterday about all the hoohah surrounding the Snickers commercial.

“Gay bashing?” I asked.

Just the opposite, he pointed out. Two dumbass rednecks act like a complete of idiots, tearing hair from their chests then guzzling motor oil and antifreeze — all to demonstrate their abject homophobia.

Nope, it was redneck bashing, pure and simple. And Snickers made Billy Bob look pretty dumb! The rest of us got a chuckle at his expense.

But who’s upset with this commercial? The gay community. And I don’t get it. I’m a big supporter of gay rights, including gay marriage. I salute the gay activists who put themselves out there for the movement.

But this is one of those times when all of us should relax and enjoy the show. Life’s too short.

Not only did the Snickers folks intend no offense, they actually ridiculed the homophobic wackos in our society. Their intent was to entertain us. But now, thanks to pressure from a few angry critics — amplified by the MSM and the blogosphere — the spot is off the air for good.

Yeah, I know what you’re gonna say. Those Web spots that followed on Monday — the ones featuring active NFL players — weren’t at all funny. But they were a continuation of the theme — this time with your NFL heroes, not Billy Bob, in the role of homophobe. Please don’t tell me this surprises you.

We know Snickers didn’t set out to expose homophobic bigotry any more than it set out to offend the gay community. The company sells candy bars — an honorable business regardless of your sexual orientation.

Sadly, this very funny spot is no more — killed by folks who sometimes take themselves, and life, all too seriously.

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7 Responses to Is good advertising doomed? Looks that way

I think it will out work out in the end, hopefully. People have to learn how to laugh at themselves…even if it is at their own expense. I’m sure not everyone takes each ad in the same sense…and that’s exactly what advertisers are supposed to do, leave it up for personal interpretation and understandment.

I guess really the only commercials we have to look forward to are the Beer commercials…what do you say Mr. Sledzick? You want to paper/rock/scissor battle sometime?

Does anyone really believe the agency could not be aware of the possible backlash and
resulting national publicity? You generate lots more attention and reduce your CPM.

This wasn’t the New Coke; it’s the old Snickers. It’s a Super Bowl spot; tested who knows how many times? What did the focus groups say? The only thing missing from the coverage of this are the reporters asking the right questions.

I was not offended in any moral sense by the ads; I just thought that for the time/money spent on the campaign, it was pretty mediocre and forgettable. To me, they showed that lowbrow humor isn’t as easy as some imagine.